Recently joined the forum. Hoping for some advice. I am the original owner of a 2008 Audi S6 that has been meticulously driven and dealer maintained. Car now has 73,000 miles. Followed all recommended services and carbon cleaning every two years since new. Car has been fantastic till last 6 months where it has gone into limp mode 3 times while regular driving. No major issues with car in last 12 years prior to this issue other than normal maintenance and wear and tear. Dealer cleared code the first time (4 months ago). Then limp mode happened again a week ago. Dealer changed transmission fluid and filter. They test drove it for a day and said hopefully that would correct it. I did not even make it home from the dealer and went into limp mode 5 mins from home while I was going 35mph. All three times this happened car was doing 20-40 and going slightly uphill. Limp mode goes away when car is turned off and restarted. I am dreading the answer but is transmission change the only solution or could it be something else less expensive and traumatic? Car is perfect otherwise and as close to new condition considering age and mileage. Would break my heart to unload it for close to nothing with new suspected transmission issue but not sure spending ~10k on a new transmission swap makes sense on a car with 73k on it? I would not have piece of mind buying a second hand transmission. I am also thinking that other items will also need to be replaced given age and thus not a smart decision. However, outside of aging tech (no CarPlay) car has been a dream to own and drive. Any advice for If it could be something else and, if transmission needs to replaced whether to fix the right way or just better to unload “as is”.
Do you have a complete printout of the exact fault code(s) that the dealer cleared?
There are six clutches in the 6hp26 transmission and one of them intermittently slipping could be the result of a failing solenoid or sticking valve in the mechatronic unit.
However, I do not know if the dealer would be equipped or inclined to troubleshoot this though.
Thanks - that is helpful. That is what I gathered from reading the very helpful info in this forum. Can that unit be ordered and replaced alone when removing the transmission or is It basically all or nothing for the transmission and not worth any dealer or independent mechanic’s time or effort to replace individually. Apologize for the uneducated question.
The transmission remains in the vehicle when replacing the mechatronic unit.
If you are looking for more reading on our transmissions, here are a couple of resources:
Thank you so much. These links were really helpful. The information, knowledge and helpfulness of individuals like yourself on this forum is amazing! Though I have no skills to fix this on my own, at least I won’t go into approving the repair blind. Will let you know what code it is and what they recommend I end up doing.
This is another interesting read
What-Causes-the-Dreaded-E-Clutch-Fault
I would be a little surprised if this is a result of worn internal components with so relatively few miles on the vehicle. (especially with nothing unusual noted when the filter was changed)
I generally drive my 07 S6 pretty hard, have more than double your mileage and have never seen a tranny related code. (touch wood)
Intermittent issues always make me think electrical. This could be something as simple as corrosion in a connector.
There are quite a few vehicles that use variants of the same transmission as ours. I would start searching for similar reported instances to yours and see what the resolutions were.
Same here 200K miles. Fluid changed at 150K and never a transmission code.
Has anyone checked fluid levels?
You should be able to get a Mechatronic unit to swap, but my guess is they are not cheap.
When you do this you should plan on changing the filter and fluid.
Ed